The problem with using numbers in product names is where do you go with the next version?
Home Assistant One 2.1?? Home Assistant One v 2.1??
Where does the product name end and the versioning begin?
Home Assistant / Home Assistant Core
is apt for an installation package
TBH, this was simple and never misunderstood, it’s “Home Assistant” and it’s “just the package”
Home Assistant Container/Cortainer/inDocker
is pretty clear you are dealing with a “containerised” package
HA Total (HAT), HA Complete (HAC), HA Image (HAI), or simply HA Supervised
Is a complete solution. It is an OS for existing metal, it’s an image for virtualisation. It’s Everything.
I do think consideration should be given to how it will be abbreviated and used in conversation, which does slightly compromise Core and Container (another reason “Home Assistant Core” should have just been left at “Home Assistant”)
joke: Homeassistant One Under Supervised Environment (HOUSE)!
Back to using “One” as in “one-and-all” or “only one” is just going to get more confusing down the track. “If it’s the only one why are there these others?”
I would suggest focusing on the installation type (which is mostly the same anyway), and just have:
Home Assistant (with or without Core) (installed in any OS)
Hmm. Thanks for asking. Since I’m one of the very confused ones, let me say a few words.
I’m currently trying to adapt to the new naming schemes. What I like is that they all begin with Home Assiatant. HA Core also seems logical, it just being the Python core run in a venv.
Please don’t make the mistake many make, calling the different ones artificial names. We’ve seen where this leads: No one can remember/distinguish things like “Bla ONE”, “Blupp ONE”, “Eta PRIME” or the like! The “olden” names did make some sense (like “Raspbian”: Raspberry+Debian; “Hassbian”: Home Assistant Debian", etc.).
So please no fancy names, just names that are decriptive and don’t confuse, like maybe:
Home Assistant — not any version or install style, just the name of what we see, maybe for the docs
Home Assistant Core — a good one, I think
Home Assistant Supervised — doubtful, but might be supervised containers (or supervised Linux installs??)
Home Assistant Container — a good one, I think
Now for the all-complete (including an OS) install. I’d very probably go for a simple name, so not “One”, “Prime”, “Plus”, “Extra”—these are not speaking names.
Maybe really a truly simple name:
Home Assistant Full (my preference), or
Home Assistant All-In-One (great name but maybe too long), or
Home Assistant Complete?
For abbreviations, we’re already lost, because HA Core, HA Container and HA Complete could all be HAC. I’d have loved to have unambigous abbreviations …
This is the right correct term for what nearly all of us use. Concise, precise, technical.
What is a software appliance according to Wikipedia?
A software appliance is a software application combined with just enough operating system (JeOS) to run optimally on industry-standard hardware (typically a server) or in a virtual machine.
Then from there people can refer to specific different types of the “packaging” such as:
(HomeAssistant) Baremetal Appliance, such as RPi, ODroid, NUC, etc
(HomeAssistant) Virtual Appliance (VM images)
(HomeAssistant) Docker Appliance
Whatever else is there, you get the gist.
It will be easy for people to easily identify or refer to which one they’re using and to document (since you can refer to all these versions as “HomeAssistant Appliance” which would include ALL of these ready-made solutions; or be as detailed as “HomeAssistant Virtual Appliance” to refer to the VM images.
HomeAssistant (with or without “Core”) for the software itself, it is just a piece of software that requires an OS and other components.
I don’t like prime or plus or premium, theses have been polluted by other companies to imply that there is a subscription model implied.
All in one - is good and descriptive but also a bit of a mouthful.
At first I didn’t like ‘one’ but I’m coming round to think it’s the best alternative though perhaps as @Madivad implies there could be people waiting for version ‘two’
How about AIO - standing for all in one ? Or does that mean something rude in another language?
I think zero and minus have very negative connotations
So AIO - as the new hass.io or as marketing people would say AI1 (no please don’t do that)
Home Assistant AIO
Home Assistant Supervised
Home Assistant Core
Home Assistant Coretainer (the only one of Taras’s (@123) I like which is unusual for me )
Edit: full - implies the others are deficient in some way
Personally I don’t think there’s an issue with the name “Home Assistant” for the ‘all-in-one product’. To me it gets confusing if I look at all the documentation etc. The naming used isn’t consistent over the product and everything around it. A few examples:
Even on the home page there are still references to hass.io.“Learn how hass.io can turn your Raspberry pi…”
The images we can download are called ‘hassos-xxx-xxx’
The header ‘Supervisor’ on the left has an URI called /hassio
Also, there is no (or at least I couldn’t find) an overview of all the different components that are used. Under normal usage of Home Assistant (former hass.io) this doesn’t matter, but as soon as you go into documentation/forums/etc the phrases are there and it’s not entirely clear what is what.
Home Assistant Core
Home Assistant Supervisor
I know it’s nitpicking, but if everything is more concise, I think, that at least for new users, everything will become a bit more clear.
Home Assistant OS seems the only choice which is likely to reduce confusion. If that is your objective, most of the options on the list make things worse.
The more I think about it the more it makes sense to not put everything together. Hass.io is a bundle of HA, HA OS and the supervisor. Why does the bundle have to have one name? Because there is an installation method to install them all at once? The only software I know who have a name for it all don’t have any other install methods. (then again I don’t know that much software )
“Home Assistant is Home Assistant is Home Assistant.” (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
For me, the thing we look at every day and probably program with YAML and stuff.
It can have different installation methods—these should be clearly named. And probably never much mentioned apart from the installation instructions and supervisor usage docs.
I’d like to introduce a slightly different angle on this. Given the direction of making it all easier and so encouraging new users I think we need to not lose sight of the fact that (I guess) most people here discussing this are at least above average in their technical proficiency.
New users, certainly in the future, will probably not be. So, I think it is REALLY important that the naming is not in itself confusing however meaningful it is.
For example, when I came to HA I had never even come across Docker and containers. Those terms meant nothing to me and I was guilty of thinking hassio was Home Assistant.
I think some extra thought needs to be given to newcomers. The Artist Formerly Known As HassioTM @123 absolutely has to have a simple, descriptive and welcoming name that says, “This is what you want”.
The name of all the other install methods whilst still important are way less important because if you are inquisitive enough to look beyond TAFKAHTM @klogg then you are probably technical enough to do your own research and be less concerned about what it is actually called.
And yeah, I know I have not actually contributed here in finding a name…
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Can’t hold myself back, spitting coffee at the screen … a GREAT one!